tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29638226Sat, 20 Dec 2014 13:14:09 +0000HSCAeneidVirgilWordsmy photosLatin todayfunBooksCiceroHoraceMythologysmhCatullusOvidin the newsother blogsJulius Caesarcontinuers 08continuers 09On this day...extension 08-09LivyPuzzlesholidayslessonshomersample answersClassics Tourarticlesiliadin verremscienceExcursionsPompeiimetamorphosesBook VIIIBook XsportAugustuseducationhumourmapsLucretiusOxford Companion to Classical Literaturecomicsmoviescolumn 8continuers 10craziesmottoesrhetoricstatisticsCaligulaegyptherculessydney unitriviawhy latin?Book IBook VIBook XIIIcarusPlutarchSapphoSuetoniusTheatrecacuscleopatradidogladiatorsmonstersmusicodysseypollstvBook IICaesarCatoComputersHerodotusMarcus Aureliusboris johnsoncontinuers 13georgicsinscriptionsjeromelinguisticsmike saltermultilingualismvideosAristophanesBook VJuvenalLatin around usLatin failPlautusPseudo-QuintilianQuintilianTertullianTrajanaudio video discosalve! welcome to my blog. i hope you find something here to interest you.http://audio-video-disco.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (jm)Blogger366125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29638226.post-5053562563353181412Tue, 28 May 2013 01:41:00 +00002013-05-28T11:41:15.105+10:00why latin?An Interview with a Classics LecturerMy friend James recently did a <a href="http://www.i-studentglobal.com/study-programmes/liberal-arts-social-sciences-humanities/classics/an-interview-with-a-classics-lecturer">short interview</a> for a website about being a Latin Lecturer; here are some of his answers:<br /><br /><br /><span class="article-heading-style1"><strong>What is it about your field that is fascinating to you?</strong></span><br /><span class="article-heading-style1"></span><br /><span class="article-heading-style1"></span>Reading ancient Roman literature is so thrilling to me because it is a way of communicating with people from the past. It is exciting to hear those ancient voices, and important too, since they wrestled with many of the same political and philosophical problems that we still do today.<br /><br /><span class="article-heading-style1"></span><br /><span class="article-heading-style1"><strong>What is it about the classics that means people still take the subject?</strong></span><br /><span class="article-heading-style1"></span><br /><span class="article-heading-style1"></span>If people are interested in ancient history, archaeology, the history of literature, or Christian theology, then a grounding in Latin and Greek is important. But I also teach a popular course in Boston called 'The World of Rome' for students who have no prior experience in studying the ancient world, on day-to-day life in ancient Rome. Most of my students will go on to major in science or engineering or economics, yet they also love being immersed for a time in a world so different from their own. How did Romans protect themselves from malaria? What kind of insurance did Romans have? What were Roman views on educating women? These are some of the questions my students had this semester, and they all raise fascinating issues.<br /><br /><br /><span class="article-heading-style1"><strong>Do you encounter many people who think classics is not a worthwhile pursuit? How do you respond to them?</strong></span><br /><span class="article-heading-style1"></span><br /><span class="article-heading-style1"></span>Classics is important not simply because it helps you to understand the origins of our language and culture. It also challenges you to understand the ideas and values of people distant from yourself, whom you will never get a chance to meet face-to-face. That kind of empathy and imagination is truly valuable in the 21st century world.http://audio-video-disco.blogspot.com/2013/05/an-interview-with-classics-lecturer.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (jm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29638226.post-8296933073560553511Wed, 22 May 2013 11:13:00 +00002013-05-22T21:13:52.326+10:00Comprehensive CompoundsIn putting together a bit of a vocab list for <em>Livy V</em>, I noticed that Livy uses each of the following compounds of fero<em>, ferre, tuli, latus</em> in various forms at some point in the book:<br /><ul><li> <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em>affero</em>: to bring to, report, announce<o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em>aufero</em>: to take away, remove, steal<o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em>circumfero</em>: to carry around, spread around, divulge<o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em>confero</em>: to bring together, collect, discuss<o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em>defero</em>: to carry down, transfer, <o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em>differo</em>: to postone, delay, put off, scatter, disperse<o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em>infero</em>: to bring in, carry in, import<o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em>offero</em>: to offer, present<o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em>perfero</em>: to carry through, endure, suffer<o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em>refero</em>: to bring back, withdraw, return, report<o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em>suffero</em>: to bear, endure, suffer<o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em>transfero</em>: to transport, convey, carry across<o:p></o:p></span></span></li></ul>In my cursory examination I couldn't find an example of <em>effero</em>, so he doesn't quite use every possible compound, but it seems like a pretty comprehensive list all the same. Are there any other compounds of <em>fero</em> which he hasn't used, and&nbsp;which&nbsp;haven't occurred to me?http://audio-video-disco.blogspot.com/2013/05/comprehensive-compounds.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (jm)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29638226.post-629009285242046346Thu, 04 Apr 2013 11:04:00 +00002013-04-04T22:04:57.154+11:00AeneidBook XIIcontinuers 13HSCsample answersVirgilThe Ambiguity of the Death of Turnus My year 12 class have recently done an exam on <em>Aeneid XII</em>; to help them learn from the experience I wrote a sample answer to the extended response question I posed them. Any comments are, as always, welcome. I know the ending of the <em>Aeneid</em> has the potential to cause heated debate, so feel free to let me know if you think I've got it completely wrong.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><em>'utere sorte tua. miseri te si qua parentis<o:p></o:p></em></span><br /><em> <span style="font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">tangere cura potest, oro (fuit et tibi talis<o:p></o:p></span></em><br /><em> <span style="font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Anchises genitor) Dauni miserere senectae<o:p></o:p></span></em><br /><em> <span style="font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">et me, seu corpus spoliatum lumine mavis,<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>935<o:p></o:p></span></em><br /><em> <span style="font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">redde meis. vicisti et victum tendere palmas<o:p></o:p></span></em><br /><em> <span style="font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Ausonii videre; tua est Lavinia coniunx,<o:p></o:p></span></em><br /><em> <span style="font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ulterius ne tende odiis.' stetit acer in armis<o:p></o:p></span></em><br /><em> <span style="font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Aeneas volvens oculos dextramque repressit;<o:p></o:p></span></em><br /><em> <span style="font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">et iam iamque magis cunctantem flectere sermo<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>940<o:p></o:p></span></em><br /><em> <span style="font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">coeperat, infelix umero cum apparuit alto<o:p></o:p></span></em><br /><em> <span style="font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">balteus et notis fulserunt cingula bullis<o:p></o:p></span></em><br /><em> <span style="font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Pallantis pueri, victum quem vulnere Turnus<o:p></o:p></span></em><br /><em> <span style="font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">straverat atque umeris inimicum insigne gerebat.<o:p></o:p></span></em><br /><em> <span style="font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ille, oculis postquam saevi monimenta doloris<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>945<o:p></o:p></span></em><br /><em> <span style="font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">exuviasque hausit, furiis accensus et ira<o:p></o:p></span></em><br /><em> <span style="font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">terribilis: 'tune hinc spoliis indute meorum<o:p></o:p></span></em><br /><em> <span style="font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">eripiare mihi? Pallas te hoc vulnere, Pallas<o:p></o:p></span></em><br /><em> </em><span style="font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><em>immolat et poenam scelerato ex sanguine sumit</em>.'<o:p></o:p></span><br /> <br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; tab-stops: 15.0cm;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“A difficult, complex, allusive, challenging end” (Horsefall, p.195)<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; tab-stops: 15.0cm;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Analyse how Virgil’s language and characterisation of Aeneas and Turnus contributes to the ambiguity of his poem’s ending.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; tab-stops: 45.75pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 21.3pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In the final lines of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Aeneid</i>, we see what appears to be a dramatic role reversal in the characters of Virgil’s two heroes. The out of control Turnus, now seems calm and collected in the face of his impending death, whereas <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">pius</i>Aeneas seems to give in to the feelings of rage and grief which surge within him, showing the same excess of passion and lack of restraint which is condemned in both Dido and Turnus. This apparent reversal contributes to the poem's somewhat ambiguous ending, and forces the reader to carefully consider whether Aeneas’ final act can be justified within the moral framework of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Aeneid</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span><a name='more'></a><br /> <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 21.3pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">It is perhaps in Turnus that the more striking change occurs. Virgil gives him a nobility largely absent from his portrayal in Book XII, which comes primarily from his acceptance of his impending death. His acknowledgement of Aeneas’ victory is total, and conveyed through the polyptoton of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">vicisti et victum</i>… <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">videre</i> (emphasised by alliteration), his renunciation of Lavinia (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">tua est Lavinia coniunx</i>) and the way he calmly refers to his own death in grand-sounding language (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">corpus spoliatum lumine</i>). Although he pleads with Aeneas (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">oro</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">miserere</i>), he does not protest about his actual death, and Virgil gives his pleas a humble rather than desperate, tone through the use of elevated, poetic language, such as the framing of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">miserere</i> by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dauni… senectae</i> or the use of the poetic word <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">genitor</i> (rather than the more prosaic <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">pater</i>).<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 21.3pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Moreover Turnus’ pleas reveal not just a calm acceptance of death, but a selfless concern for his father (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">cura… parentis</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dauni miserere senectae</i>). This display of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">pietas</i>, the virtue more usually associated with Aeneas, is surprising, but reinforces the nobility of Turnus, portraying him in a more sympathetic light. In a similar way we are surprised to find Turnus, the wounded lion, the out of control boulder, the bellowing bull, urging restraint upon Aeneas, advising him not to stretch his hatred any further (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ulterius ne tende odiis</i>). Like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">pietas</i>, self-control or moderation was an important Roman value, and so Virgil’s choice to end Turnus’ speech in this way is significant, suggesting that he wanted his Roman audience to feel respect and even admiration for Turnus at this point of the narrative. The sympathy for Turnus which Virgil arouses in his readers through portraying his nobility and virtue is thus a prime source of the ambiguity we feel over his imminent death.<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span><br /> <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 21.3pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Aeneas on the other hand, appears in a much more negative light. Virgil associates him with words and images of intense grief and anger. At first he is merely fierce (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">acer</i>), but as his attention is drawn to the stolen sword-belt of Pallas, Virgil describes him (or more accurately his grief) as savage (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">saevi</i>), enflamed with madness (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">furiis accensus</i>) and terrible in anger (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ira terribilis</i>). This is the kind of language more typically used of Turnus and even Dido to show their excess of emotion and lack of self-control. The image of fire (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">accensus</i>) in particular suggests that Aeneas’ rage is burning beyond his control and that he is not behaving in a way consistent with the Roman ideals revealed to him by his father Anchises in the Underworld (Book VI). Aeneas’ killing of Turnus also requires a rejection of Turnus’ appeal to his <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">pietas</i> and the memory of Anchises himself (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">fuit… Anchises genitor</i>), showing the extent of the change in Aeneas’ character.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 21.3pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Aeneas’ brief speech at the end of the extract also strengthens this impression. The outrage of his rhetorical question (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">tune… eripiare mihi?</i>), the repetition of Pallas’ name, the framing of the final line with the violent verbs of sacrifice (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">immolat… sumit</i>), and the hissing sound created by the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">‘s’</i> alliteration in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">s</i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">celerato e<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">x s</b>anguine <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">s</b>umit</i> all combine to create a speech seething with anger and rage, again suggesting to the reader that Aeneas goes too far in killing Turnus, contributing to the ambiguity of the poem’s ending.<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span><br /> <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 21.3pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">And so it is clear that Virgil wants his readers to feel some sympathy for Turnus at the end of his life, and portrays Aeneas in a way which emphasises his anger. However it is not solely the fact of Aeneas’ anger which creates ambiguity; the ambiguity comes from the ghost of Pallas which haunts these lines. Virgil’s decision to make the belt of Pallas (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">infelix… balteus</i>) the catalyst for the death of Turnus reminds us of the duty he owes to Evander and his dead son Pallas, and makes us ask whether the rage of Aeneas, intense and overwhelming as it is, is perhaps justified. Aeneas’ must choose between two loyalties; honouring Daunus and the memory of Anchises, by sparing Turnus’ life, or honouring Evander and the memory of Pallas by taking it. This choice is perhaps embodied in line 943, which is framed by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pallantis pueri</i> at the start and by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Turnus</i> at the end. The ambiguity comes from Virgil’s characterisation and surprising role-reversal of both Turnus and Aeneas, but also from the conflicting loyalties felt by Aeneas, from the unanswerable question of whether his rage is ultimately justified, and from the knowledge that either choice is, in the end, fundamentally compromised.</span></div>http://audio-video-disco.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-ambiguity-of-death-of-turnus.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (jm)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29638226.post-6920174936858716040Wed, 03 Apr 2013 21:22:00 +00002013-04-04T08:22:36.936+11:00AeneidBook XIIcontinuers 13VirgilAeneid XII<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cWo0ZZ5_5Xg/UVydSEzWU3I/AAAAAAAAA_E/STpXh6cF9m4/s1600/aeneid+XII.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cWo0ZZ5_5Xg/UVydSEzWU3I/AAAAAAAAA_E/STpXh6cF9m4/s320/aeneid+XII.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: center;"><em>Aeneid XII</em>, as imagined by my current year 12 class</div><br />http://audio-video-disco.blogspot.com/2013/04/aeneid-xii.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (jm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29638226.post-1075350727478593954Fri, 15 Feb 2013 09:43:00 +00002013-02-15T20:43:26.053+11:00Centre for Latin Studies, Beijing<div align="LEFT">I sometimes half-jokingly tell people who ask me about being a Latin teacher that it's a growth industry. While Latin teaching is a small field, and student numbers are not likely to explode overnight, it's true to say that the study of the classics is having something of a revival, and that there is a wealth of opportunities for young teachers.</div><div align="LEFT">&nbsp;</div><div align="LEFT">Nevertheless I was surprised to hear about the recent establishment of the <em>Centre for Latin Language and Culture</em> in Beijing of all places. It turns out some of the first Europeans in China were Jesuit missionaries, who recorded their thoughts and observations in Latin, much of which is both unpublished and untranslated (as far as I can tell).</div><div align="LEFT">&nbsp;</div><div align="LEFT">Here's a bit of information about the centre (taken from <a href="http://www.latinitas.unisal.it/extra/latinitas_sinica_inglese.pdf">this document</a>, which is worth looking at for some of the pictures alone):</div><br /> <span style="font-size: small;">"<em>Latinitas Sinica</em>" (Centre for Latin Language and Culture in China) is the name of a study centre established at the prestigious Beijing Foreign Studies University, the Chinese university specialized in foreign languages and cultures and officially opened on June 15th</span><span style="font-size: small;">, 2012...</span><br /><div align="LEFT">&nbsp;</div><span style="font-size: small;">The reason why the Sinology Center has a particular interest in Latin is due to the historical fact that much of the Western material about China, at least until the end of 18</span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">th </span><span style="font-size: small;">century, was written in Latin. </span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><a name='more'></a>In the last years some very significant Master and Doctoral Dissertations discussed at the Sinology Center were based on original material – often unpublished manuscripts – written in Latin. <br /> <br />Michele Ruggieri, Matteo Ricci, Philippe Couplet and innumerable other early sinologists wrote about China in Latin. <br /> <br />As the Sinology centre aims at a thorough knowledge of Western studies about China, it cannot neglect the vast amount of historical material produced in Latin. <br /> <br />For this it was necessary to have students and scholars specialized in, or at least familiar with, this language...<br /><span style="font-size: small;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><em>Latinitas Sinica</em> is a specialized institution dedicated to the study and promotion </span><span style="font-size: small;">of Latin Language in China by:</span><span style="font-size: small;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><ul><li>Supporting the learning and teaching of Latin Language in China; </li><li>Promoting research in China in the field of Latin Language and Culture; </li><li>Researching the area of Latin Sinology; </li><li>Researching the area of Early Latin to Chinese Translations; </li><li>Offering to Chinese society various services related to Latin Language and Culture, being a reference for institutions around the world interested in Latin Language in China; </li><li>Publishing every year an issue of a "Journal of Latin Studies in China". </li></ul></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"></span>http://audio-video-disco.blogspot.com/2013/02/centre-for-latin-studies-beijing.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (jm)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29638226.post-8937720012195687175Mon, 11 Feb 2013 10:11:00 +00002013-02-11T21:11:19.453+11:00AeneidBook IVBook XIIcontinuers 13VirgilDido and Anna, Turnus and JuturnaSome notes from R.D. Williams on <em>Aeneid XII.843f</em>., interspersed with the relevant passages and translations. For more on the links between Dido and Turnus, I quite like this essay: <a href="http://www.fictionpress.com/s/2907727/1/Chaotic-Passion-Turnus-Femininity-In-The-Aeneid">Chaotic Passions; Turnus and Femininity in the Aeneid</a>. It includes a chapter on both <a href="http://www.fictionpress.com/s/2907727/5/Chaotic-Passion-Turnus-Femininity-In-The-Aeneid">Dido</a> and <a href="http://www.fictionpress.com/s/2907727/7/Chaotic-Passion-Turnus-Femininity-In-The-Aeneid">Juturna</a>.<br /><br /><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We are powerfully reminded of the scene in <i>Aeneid 4</i> where Dido, another tragic victim of the events of the poem, visits her dead husband’s grave and is terrified by omens, voices and the hooting of owls by night<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">XII</span></b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>postquam acies videt Iliacas atque agmina Turni,<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">alitis in parvae subitam collecta figuram,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">quae quondam in bustis aut culminibus desertis<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">nocte sedens serum canit importuna per umbras—<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">hanc versa in faciem Turni se pestis ob ora<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>865<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">fertque refertque sonans clipeumque everberat alis.</span></span></i><br /><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span></i><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p>When she sees the Trojan battle-lines and the troops of Turnus the Fury, <strong>changed suddenly into the form of that small bird which, sitting late at night on tombs and deserted buildings, often sings her ill-omened songs through the shadows</strong> - changed into this shape the fiend throws herself again and again into the face of Turnus, shrieking and beating upon his shield with her wings.</o:p></span></span><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">&nbsp;</span></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">&nbsp;</span></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">IV<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span></b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">praeterea fuit in tectis de marmore templum<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">coniugis antiqui, miro quod honore colebat,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">velleribus niveis et festa fronde revinctum:<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">hinc exaudirivuoces et verba vocantis<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>460<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">visa viri, nox cum terras obscura teneret,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">solaque culminibus ferali carmine bubo<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">saepe queri et longas in fletum ducere voces;<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">&nbsp;</span></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 35.35pt 0pt 36pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">And furthermore, there was in her palace a marble chapel, sacred to her first husband, which she venerated with utmost love, keeping it decorated with snowy fleeces and festal greenery. Now from this chapel when night held the world in darkness she thought that she distinctly heard cries, as of her husband calling to her. <b>And often on a rooftop a lonely owl would sound her deathly lamentation, drawing out her notes into a long wail.<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">&nbsp;</span></o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a name='more'></a></span></span><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">There are other deliberate reminiscences of the story of Dido; Juturna’s position as a sister who cannot help is similar to that of Anna, and the repetition (871) of the line describing Anna’s grief (4.673) takes the thoughts back to that other tragedy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">&nbsp;</span></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">XII<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span></b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">At procul ut Dirae stridorem agnovit et alas,<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">infelix crinis scindit Iuturna solutos<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>870<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">unguibus ora soror foedans et pectora pugnis:</span></span></i></b><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Calibri;">But when ill-fated Juturna, <strong>his sister</strong>,&nbsp;recognised the sound of the Fury's wings she tore at her untied hair, <strong>marring her cheeks with her fingernails and bruising her breast with her fists.</strong></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">&nbsp;</span></o:p></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">&nbsp;</span></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">IV<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span></b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">audiit exanimis trepidoque exterrita cursu<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">unguibus ora soror foedans et pectora pugnis<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">per medios ruit, ac morientem nomine clamat:<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">'hoc illud, germana, fuit? me fraude petebas?<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>675<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">hoc rogus iste mihi, hoc ignes araeque parabant?<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">&nbsp;</span></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 35.35pt 0pt 36pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>Her</strong> <strong>sister</strong> heard [the sounds of mourning] and the breath left her. <b>Marring her cheeks with her fingernails and bruising her breast with her fists </b>she dashed in frightened haste through the crowds, found Dido at the very point of death, and cried out to her: “O sister, so this was the truth? You planned to deceive me! Was this what your pyre, your altars and the fires were to mean for me?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">&nbsp;</span></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The complaint of Juturna that she cannot accompany her brother in death (880-1) recalls Anna’s words to Dido;<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">&nbsp;</span></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">XII</span></b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>quo vitam dedit aeternam? cur mortis adempta est<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">condicio? possem tantos finire dolores<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>880<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">nunc certe, et misero fratri comes ire per umbras!<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">immortalis ego? <b>aut quicquam mihi dulce meorum<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">te sine, frater, erit? o quae satis ima dehiscat<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">terra mihi, Manisque deam demittat ad imos?'<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span></i>&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Why did Jupiter grant me eternal life? Why was the possibility of death stolen from me? Now indeed I would be able to put an end to such great suffering and to&nbsp;accompany my poor brother through the shadows! Why am I immortal? <strong>How will&nbsp;any part of my life be sweet without you, my brother? O what earth will gape wide&nbsp;enough to swallow me and to send me&nbsp;down to the deepest Shades?'</strong><em>&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></em></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">&nbsp;</span></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">IV<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span></b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">his etiam struxi manibus patriosque vocavi<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>680<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">voce deos, sic te ut posita, crudelis, abessem?<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">exstinxti te meque, soror,</span></i></b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> populumque patresque<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sidonios urbemque tuam. date, vulnera lymphis<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">abluam et, extremus si quis super halitus errat,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">ore legam.'<span style="mso-tab-count: 4;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>685<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">&nbsp;</span></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 42.55pt 0pt 36pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“With these hands I built your pyre and cried aloud upon our ancestral gods, only to be cruelly separated from you as you lay in death! <b>Sister you have destroyed my life with your own</b>, and the lives of our people and Sidon’s nobility, and your whole city too. Come, let me see your wounds – I must wash them clean with water, and gather with my own lips any last hovering breath.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">&nbsp;</span></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">and her wish to be swallowed up in the depths of the earth (883) is reminiscent of Dido’s words in 4.24f.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">&nbsp;</span></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">IV</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><i>Anna (fatebor enim) miseri post fata Sychaei<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>20<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">coniugis et sparsos fraterna caede penatis<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">solus hic inflexit sensus animumque labantem<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">impulit. agnosco veteris vestigia flammae.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">sed mihi vel tellus optem prius ima dehiscat<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">vel pater omnipotens adigat me fulmine ad umbras,25<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">pallentis umbras Erebo noctemque profundam,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">ante, pudor, quam te violo aut tua iura resolvo.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">&nbsp;</span></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 35.35pt 0pt 36pt; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Yes, Anna, I shall tell you my secret. Ever since the tragic death of my husband Sychaeus, whose sprinkled blood, which my own brother shed, desecrated our home, no one but this stranger ever made an impression on me, or stirred my heart to wavering. I can discern the old fire coming near again. <b>But I could pray that the earth should yawn deep to engulf me, or the Father Almighty blast me to the Shades with a stroke of his thunder, deep down to those pallid Shades in darkest Erebos,</b> before I ever violate my honour or break its laws.”</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">&nbsp;</span></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In the sympathy it evokes, this final tragic death in the poem is thus deliberately made parallel with the death of Dido, the other great opponent of the mission of Aeneas.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>http://audio-video-disco.blogspot.com/2013/02/dido-and-anna-turnus-and-juturna.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (jm)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29638226.post-7965198763558238990Thu, 07 Feb 2013 11:02:00 +00002013-02-07T22:09:42.089+11:00statistics15/25Trawling through the web, looking for something else, I came across an old (2005)&nbsp;<a href="http://arltblog.wordpress.com/2005/09/06/gcse-results-show-that-the-top-schools-teach-latin/">statistic</a> from England, pointing out that out 93 of their top 100 schools (ranked by Times according to GCSE results) had Classics department, and that, even more impressively,&nbsp;24 of the top 25 offered Latin.<br /><br />Out of interest, I thought I'd put together a similar list for NSW Schools, based on the <a href="http://arltblog.wordpress.com/2005/09/06/gcse-results-show-that-the-top-schools-teach-latin/">Sydney Morning Herald's rankings</a> from last year's HSC.<br /><br />2. North Sydney Boys High School<br />3. North Sydney Girls High School<br />4. Sydney Girls High School<br />5. Baulkham Hills High School<br />8. Sydney Boys High School<br />9. SCEGGS Darlinghurst<br />10. Sydney Grammar School<br /><a name='more'></a>12. Kambala<br />13. Frensham<br />17. Pymble Ladies' College<br />18. Abbotsleigh<br />19. SHORE - Sydney Church of England Grammar SChool<br />21. St George Girls High School<br />23. Presbyterian Ladies College Sydney<br />24. Ravenswood School for Girls<br />26. Meriden School<br />28. Ascham School<br />30. St Aloysius' College<br />37. Loreto Normanhurst*<br />39. Gosford High School*<br />40. The King's School<br />42. St Catherine's School<br />44. MLC School<br />45. Barker College<br />47. Queenwood School for Girls<br />49. St Ignatius' College<br />54. Santa Sabina College<br />64. Newington College<br />67. Cranbrook School<br />69. Canberra Grammar School<br />80. The Scots College<br />91. Trinity Grammar School<br /><br />I think that makes 15 out of the top 25 schools (six of which are academically selective government schools, I proudly note), and 32 out of the top 100. If I happen to have left a school out please let me know. Schools with an asterisk have some Latin but don't offer it to the HSC (as far as I know or can find out). The only schools I can think of which offer Latin and aren't on this list are Redlands, St Josephs, Hills Grammar and Kinross-Wolaroi.<br /><br /><strong>Disclaimer</strong>: I actually think ranking schools is pretty problematic, that the relationship between wealth, offering Latin and school success is a murky one and that it's not worth reading too much into this table. That is,&nbsp;schools which offer Latin tend to be those which attract students from wealthier families and so will probably get good academic results regardless of whether they offer Latin or not. http://audio-video-disco.blogspot.com/2013/02/trawling-through-web-looking-for.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (jm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29638226.post-5160286105521418771Tue, 06 Nov 2012 03:17:00 +00002012-11-06T14:17:40.326+11:00Athos<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pq2mkYGO1x0/UJiA0EyT1VI/AAAAAAAAA-w/_exC97PPMhw/s1600/Athos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pq2mkYGO1x0/UJiA0EyT1VI/AAAAAAAAA-w/_exC97PPMhw/s320/Athos.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[Mt Athos]</span></div><div style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;</div><br />I notice that one of the horses racing in today's <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/sport/horseracing/dunaden-will-star-again-but-not-if-this-is-maluckyday-20121105-28u9b.html">Melbourne Cup</a> is called Mt Athos. It just so happens I was translating this passage from Aeneid XII with my year 12 class today:<br /><br /> <br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em>quantus Athos aut quantus Eryx aut ipse coruscis<o:p></o:p></em></span></span></div><em> <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">cum fremit ilicibus quantus gaudetque nivali<o:p></o:p></span></span></em><br /><em> <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">vertice se attollens pater Appenninus ad auras.</span></span></em><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Aeneas was as great as Athos, or as great as Eryx or as great as father Apenninus himself with his quivering pine trees, when he roars and rejoices in his snowy peak, lifting himself up into the sky.</span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span><br /> Mt Athos is in Macedonia, Mt Eryx (these days Monte San Giuliano) on Sicily and Appenninus in central Italy. <a href="https://maps.google.com.au/maps/ms?msid=209193280430348950784.0004cdcad20539e8541ef&amp;msa=0&amp;ll=41.294317,18.215332&amp;spn=10.858951,23.269043">Here</a> is a map. I recall a few years ago there was a horse in the Melbourne cup called <a href="http://audio-video-disco.blogspot.com.au/2007/11/jewel-of-islands.html">Sirmione</a> - I wonder if they're somehow related.http://audio-video-disco.blogspot.com/2012/11/athos.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (jm)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29638226.post-2796140315689525686Tue, 06 Nov 2012 02:48:00 +00002012-11-06T13:48:26.457+11:00smh...it helps to know the language.<div style="text-align: justify;">Apart from English, classical languages are the only subjects which focus on the study of great literature.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The books you get to read by the last year of high school are the best of their kind. (Over the centuries, the mediocre stuff just got lost.) Epic, history, tragedy, comedy, satire, oratory and philosophy - all yours to analyse, discuss and enjoy, not second-hand, but in the very words of the composer, speaking to you in 21st century Australia, to you, their cultural descendant.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">All right, it's not for everyone. But for many intellectually curious teenagers, the ancient world is a fascinating place, and when you travel to a new place, it helps to know the language.</div><br /><div style="text-align: right;">[<a href="http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/return-to-classics-points-to-future-20121104-28rzz.html">Return to Classics Points to Future</a>, smh 5/11/2012]</div>http://audio-video-disco.blogspot.com/2012/11/it-helps-to-know-language.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (jm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29638226.post-1662897746073004913Wed, 12 Sep 2012 12:21:00 +00002012-09-12T22:21:17.752+10:00Book VContinuers 12HSCLivysample answersLivy's engaging style of historyIn case anyone is interested, here is a sample extended response answer I wrote for the Livy extended response from my trial HSC paper this year. I welcome all comments, corrections or criticisms!<br /><br /><em>Sed dique et homines prohibuere redemptos vivere Romanos. Nam forte quadam priusquam infanda merces perficeretur, per altercationem nondum omni auro adpenso, dictator intervenit, auferrique aurum de medio et Gallos submoveri iubet. cum illi renitentes pactos dicerent sese, negat eam pactionem ratam esse quae postquam ipse dictator creatus esset iniussu suo ab inferioris iuris magistratu facta esset, denuntiatque Gallis ut se ad proelium expediant. Suos in acervum conicere sarcinas et arma aptare ferroque non auro reciperare patriam iubet, in conspectu habentes fana deum et coniuges et liberos et solum patriae deforme belli malis et omnia quae defendi repetique et ulcisci fas sit. Instruit deinde aciem, ut loci natura patiebatur, in semirutae solo urbis et natura inaequali, et omnia quae arte belli secunda suis eligi praepararive poterant providit. Galli nova re trepidi arma capiunt iraque magis quam consilio in Romanos incurrunt. Iam verterat fortuna, iam deorum opes humanaque consilia rem Romanam adiuvabant. Igitur primo concursu haud maiore momento fusi Galli sunt quam ad Alliam vicerant. Iustiore altero deinde proelio ad octavum lapidem Gabina via, quo se ex fuga contulerant, eiusdem ductu auspicioque Camilli vincuntur.</em><br /><br /><br /><strong>Analyse the ways in which this extract is typical of Livy’s engaging style of history.</strong><br /><a name='more'></a><br />Livy’s history, and especially the first ten books, is characterised by dramatic, often significantly embellished, episodes, vivid descriptions and moral exemplars which seek to both engage and inspire his audience. This episode, in which Camillus appears at the last moment to save Rome and drive off the Gauls is in many ways typical of this style of history.<br /><br />The character of Camillus provides this extract with its most engaging feature. His entrance onto the scene is made more dramatic by Livy’s periodic style. The abrupt announcement of his arrival (<em>dictator intervenit</em>) is postponed, coming after a subordinate clause and extended ablative absolute. This has the effect of taking the reader almost by surprise, capturing the reader’s interest and providing a strong note of hope after the bleak scenes previously described. Camillus is also portrayed as a compelling, authoritative figure. His actions are described in the present tense (<em>iubet… negat… denuntiat</em> etc.) which give them a sense of immediacy, and the polysyndeton of <em>auferrique… et… submoveri</em> conveys the speed and decisiveness with which he acts. The simple language with which Camillus dismisses the Gauls’ objections also shows his authority, and contributes to the picture of a compelling and engaging character.<br /><br />Livy also highlights Camillus’ skill as a military leader. Camillus’ speech to his troops, reported in indirect statement, is simple but effective in inspiring his troops. The assonance of <em>arma aptare</em>, the juxtaposition of <em>ferro… non auro</em> and his emotional appeal to the soldiers’ religious devotion (<em>fana deum, ulcisci fas sit</em>), to their love for their families (<em>coniuges et liberos</em>) and to their patriotism (<em>solum patriae</em>) gives his speech a very moving tone, and would have been successful in engaging his Roman audience. Livy also remarks on Camillus’ sound battle tactics (<em>ut loci natura patiebatur, omnia… providit</em>) and emphasises the totality of his victory in not one but two battles (<em>fusi Galli sunt, altero deinde proelio… vincuntur</em>). This highlights Camillus’ skill as a military leader, and further adds to Livy’s portrayal of Camillus as a compelling and engaging character.<br /><br />That the character of Camillus, as portrayed in this extract, is largely fictional is also a typical element of Livy’s style of history. Livy does not here record direct speech of Camillus as he does elsewhere in Book V, but his recount of Camillus’ orders and actions is certainly invented, and aims to portray Camillus in a particular way in order to add drama and interest to his narrative. Livy’s embellishment of the basic story found in the annalistic tradition perhaps even extends as far as changing the outcome of the siege of Rome; other versions of the story suggest that the ransom was paid to the Gauls, who were then defeated on their way home. Livy’s version which has Camillus turn up in the nick of time to prevent the ransom being paid (<em>nondum omni auri adpenso</em>), is a much more dramatic, engaging and patriotic version, typical of Livy’s stated purpose to show the greatness of Rome.<br /><br />Another typical feature of Livy’s style which helps him to hold his audience’s attention is his use of religion and religious language. In this extract the religious elements of the story suggest that the gods are at work in the history of Rome, giving the events a significance that goes beyond the human level. This can clearly be seen in three places in the extract, where Livy says firstly that both gods and humankind (<em>dique et homines</em>) were responsible for the saving of Rome, secondly that the power of the gods was helping the Roman army (<em>deorum opes… adiuvabant</em>) and finally that victory over the Gauls was achieved not just by the leadership of Camillus, but by the kindness the gods showed to him (<em>auspicio</em>). Livy’s ambiguous mention of chance (<em>forte quadam</em>) also suggests that fate is at work behind the scenes, as does his assertion that fortune was on the side of the Romans (<em>verterat fortuna</em>). The use of religion in this way is typical of Livy’s style and helps him to invest this episode with greater meaning and significance, and therefore make it more engaging for his Roman audience.<br /><br />Lastly Livy’s periodic style, that is his construction and arrangement of sentences, is typical of his engaging style of history. Livy’s extensive sentences, made up of multiple subordinate clauses, arranged in a logical and orderly way (e.g. <em>cum… dicerent…, negat… ratam esse quae postquam… creatus esset… facta esset, denuntiatque… ut… expedient</em>) and finely balanced (e.g. <em>dique et homines, ferroque non auro, iraque magis quam consilio</em>) help his prose to flow smoothly in a way which is pleasing to the ear and engages the reader with the beauty of his language. Livy’s use of poetic or archaic (e.g. <em>deum</em> for <em>deorum</em>) or figurative language (<em>fusi Galli sunt</em>) and rhetorical techniques such as tricolon (<em>defendi repetique et ulcisci, fana deum et coniuges et liberos et solum patriae</em>), chiasmus (<em>Galli nova re trepidi</em>) and alliteration (<em>praepararive poterant providit</em>) also achieve a similar effect, raising the register of the passage and drawing particular attention to certain elements of the story in order to create a more memorable and engaging history.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;">(851 words)</div><br />http://audio-video-disco.blogspot.com/2012/09/livys-engaging-style-of-history.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (jm)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29638226.post-6503025123781249956Thu, 23 Aug 2012 11:00:00 +00002012-08-23T21:00:51.729+10:00CatullusholidaysmapstravelRoman Sites in Northern Italy<div style="text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="350" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="https://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=d&amp;source=s_d&amp;saddr=Munich&amp;daddr=Gro%C3%9Fkarolinenfeld,+Germany+to:Innsbruck+to:Verona+to:Sirmione&amp;geocode=FZ-B3gId_aawACnZX4yj-XWeRzF9mLF9SrgMAQ%3BFZq52gIdHVe4ACkLX9oHZBt2RzHGsoJGBz8pBQ%3BFVxF0QIdRgOuAClzyvjhz26dRzENmx0ofRwgnQ%3BFZRVtQIdKrinACnj4JtpaF9_RzFbWYJoY1r4Uw%3BFYw6tgIdP9OhACnLY2SqSeuBRzGSJ8_TGKM0Ew&amp;aq=&amp;sll=46.825597,11.515572&amp;sspn=3.690919,10.777588&amp;hl=en&amp;mra=ls&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;t=m&amp;ll=46.830134,11.513672&amp;spn=5.261762,9.338379&amp;z=6&amp;output=embed" width="425"></iframe></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><small><a href="https://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=d&amp;source=embed&amp;saddr=Munich&amp;daddr=Gro%C3%9Fkarolinenfeld,+Germany+to:Innsbruck+to:Verona+to:Sirmione&amp;geocode=FZ-B3gId_aawACnZX4yj-XWeRzF9mLF9SrgMAQ%3BFZq52gIdHVe4ACkLX9oHZBt2RzHGsoJGBz8pBQ%3BFVxF0QIdRgOuAClzyvjhz26dRzENmx0ofRwgnQ%3BFZRVtQIdKrinACnj4JtpaF9_RzFbWYJoY1r4Uw%3BFYw6tgIdP9OhACnLY2SqSeuBRzGSJ8_TGKM0Ew&amp;aq=&amp;sll=46.825597,11.515572&amp;sspn=3.690919,10.777588&amp;hl=en&amp;mra=ls&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;t=m&amp;ll=46.830134,11.513672&amp;spn=5.261762,9.338379&amp;z=6" style="color: blue; text-align: left;">View Larger Map</a></small> </div><br />I think I'm going to be in Munich towards the end of October for a friend's wedding (the wedding is confirmed, it's my attendance which is still a bit uncertain). If I go, I'd also like to visit some friends in Innsbruck, and spend a few days in northern Italy as well. I'd particularly like to see the <a href="http://www.sirmioneonline.net/grotte-1.htm">Grotte Di Catullo</a>. I'm aware that it's not the actual house Catullus lived in, but I feel the pilgrimage would be worth it all the same. I've been to Rome a few times, but have never made it very far north and this seems like a good opportunity to do so.<br /><br />While I'm there are there any other nearby sites I should make an effort to get to? The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verona_Arena">amphitheatre in Verona </a>sounds worth a visit, but I have no idea what else is around that part of Italy. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padua">Padua</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantua">Mantua</a>&nbsp;(the <a href="http://audio-video-disco.blogspot.com.au/2009/07/birthplaces-of-roman-authors.html">birthplaces</a> of Livy and Vergil respectively)&nbsp;aren't too far away, but in my brief internet investigations it doesn't seem like there's actually much to make it worth going there.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Any recommendations?</div>http://audio-video-disco.blogspot.com/2012/08/roman-sites-in-northern-italy.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (jm)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29638226.post-3434932957851410135Mon, 30 Jul 2012 11:46:00 +00002012-08-06T21:02:34.003+10:00HoraceJuvenalMartin AmissatireMartin Amis and SatireI read a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Amis">Martin Amis</a> novel for the first time this year, and so <a href="http://www.vulture.com/2012/07/in-conversation-martin-amis.html">this interview</a> with him caught my eye. It's super long, and interesting only in sections, but there were numerous times when I was reminded of Juvenal's (and to a lesser extent Horace's) satires. Here are a few bits that piqued my interest:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">...the book is a kind of satire of contemporary England—a member of its underclass wins the lottery and enters its tabloid class. Satire is—I wonder how helpful it is as a category. It was once defined in apposition to irony, in that the satirist isn’t just looking at things ironically but militantly—he wants to change them, and intends to have an effect on the world. I think that category just doesn’t exist in literature. No novel has ever changed anything, as far as I can see. And the great satirists, like Swift and Dickens, tend to write about abuses and injustices that have already been partially corrected—you write about it after it’s over. I would say I’m an ironist not a satirist. All you do is you take existing tendencies and crank them up, just turn up the volume dial.</blockquote><a name='more'></a><blockquote class="tr_bq">It’s not class anymore. It’s money... And plenty of people got it who don’t deserve it.</blockquote>Juvenal feels the same way. Here for example is a passage from near&nbsp;the start of Satire III:<br /><br /><em>cedamus patria. vivant Artorius istic</em><br /><em>et Catulus, maneant qui nigrum in candida vertunt,</em><br /><em>quis facile est aedem conducere, flumina, portus,</em><br /><em>siccandam eluviem, portandum ad busta cadaver,</em><br /><em>et praebere caput domina venale sub hasta.</em><br /><em>quondam hi cornicines et municipalis harenae</em><br /><em>perpetui comites notaeque per oppida buccae</em><br /><em>munera nunc edunt et, verso pollice vulgus</em><br /><em>cum iubet, occidunt populariter; inde reversi</em><br /><em>conducunt foricas, et cur non omnia? cum sint</em><br /><em>quales ex humili magna ad fastigia rerum</em><br /><em>extollit quotiens voluit Fortuna iocari.</em><br /><br />Let's get out of here. Let Artorius and Catulus live on here, those who turn black into white, who see no problem with tendering for temples, rivers, harbours, cleaning up floods, carrying corpses to the morgue, or even selling themselves into slavery. These people used to musicians and permanent fixtures at second-class sporting events, and their faces were known in all the country towns. Now they put on shows themselves and with their thumb turned whenever the vulgar crowd demands it, they kill for the sake of popularity. Then they turn around and tender for the sewers, and why shouldn't they do all this? After all these are the kinds of people whom Fate raises from humble origins to great heights of wealth whenever she's looking for a bit of a joke.<br /><br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">I don’t think I’d like Manhattan anymore... It’s a fantastic sight—every time, it awes me. But it’s too noisy. The city that never sleeps—yeah, that’s right. The city where you never sleep, because there’s some self-righteous municipal vehicle doing something incredibly noisy at three in the morning outside your window.</blockquote>Compare that to Juvenal III.232-238:<br /><br /><em>Plurimus hic aeger moritur vigilando...</em><br /><em>...nam quae meritoria somnum</em><br /><em>admittunt? magnis opibus dormitur in urbe.</em><br /><em>inde caput morbi. raedarum transitus arto</em><br /><em>vicorum in flexu et stantis convicia mandrae</em><br /><em>eripient somnum Druso vitulisque marinis.</em><br /><br />Most sick people here in Rome die from being kept awake... for what accommodation actually allows you to sleep? You can only buy sleep in the city with great wealth. This is the source of the illness. The toings and froings of wagons in the narrow bends of the neighbourhoods and the cattle-hand cursing his stalled flock are enough to snatch sleep from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudius">Drusus</a>, or even seals.<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">One of the things that pleased [my friend <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_hitchens">Christopher] Hitchens</a> most during his last months was... how many young people are in the audience. And it’s very heartening if you find yourself attracting the young. Heartening more than anyone knows because it means your stuff is going to live, at least one more generation. If you feel you have a strong constituency among the young, you can really die happy, because the great unanswered question, the only valid value judgment is whether you’re going to last, and that tells you that you are, for a bit at least... <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingsley_Amis">My father</a> always claimed to be completely uninterested in posterity. I said, it doesn’t mean anything to you, whether you’re going to be read in 50 years’ time? And he said, it’ll be no fucking use to me, will it? I’ll be dead. But I think that was sort of bravado, I think it did matter to him. When I see a lot of young faces in the audience, it’s just sort of sinking in how important that is. </blockquote>Horace writes some contradictory things about posterity. Most famously in these lines from Ode III.30:<br /><br /><em>Non omnis moriar multaque pars mei</em><br /><em>vitabit Libitinam; usque ego postera</em><br /><em>crescam laude recens, dum Capitolium</em><br /><em>scandet cum tacita virgine pontifex.</em><br /><br />I shall not die completely, but a great part of me shall avoid death; I shall grow ever fresh with the praise of subsequent generations, as long as the chief priest ascends the Capitol together with a silent maiden.<br /><br />I have often marvelled with my students that Horace's fame outlived even his own boastful predictions and he is still read by students (admittedly only the most gifted and fortunate) in schools today. However this passage from Satire I.X puts a slightly different, less triumphal spin on things:<br /><br /><em>saepe stilum vertas, iterum quae digna legi sint</em><br /><em>scripturus, neque te ut miretur turba labores,</em><br /><em>contentus paucis lectoribus. an tua demens</em><br /><em>vilibus in ludis dictari carmina malis?</em><br /><em>non ego;</em><br /><br />If you would often set your pen to write things which are worthy of being read, don't struggle to gain the admiration of the crowd, but be content with a few readers. Or are you so crazy that you would prefer your poems to be studied in cheap schools? I am certainly not.http://audio-video-disco.blogspot.com/2012/07/martin-amis-and-satire.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (jm)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29638226.post-8313537496531375597Fri, 29 Jun 2012 09:40:00 +00002012-06-29T19:40:00.634+10:00lego, legere<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dNsOSOEbFww/T-13EkY2S5I/AAAAAAAAA-k/y6643wtTtOc/s1600/art-Lego1-420x0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dNsOSOEbFww/T-13EkY2S5I/AAAAAAAAA-k/y6643wtTtOc/s320/art-Lego1-420x0.jpg" vca="true" width="320" /></a></div><br />The Nicholson Museum at Sydney Uni have a <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/i-came-i-saw-i-constructed-20120628-213dy.html">lego colosseum</a> on display. It's amazing, and I will be taking my daughter to see it these school holidays for sure.<br />http://audio-video-disco.blogspot.com/2012/06/lego-legere.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (jm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29638226.post-3493527790985955602Wed, 13 Jun 2012 23:16:00 +00002012-06-14T09:16:24.629+10:00translationtranslationI have to give a talk in a week (actually less than that - *panic*) to year 12 Latin students on how to prepare for and do the&nbsp;'unseen translations' in their final examination. I have some idea of what I would like to say, but I turned to youtube to see if there was anything useful on there.<br /><br />All I could find was <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4GdH8SBgO4">this guy</a>, who apart from being incredibly dull, was also (in my humble opinion) incredibly wrong. I couldn't bear to watch the whole thing, but he started off by saying how important it was to analyse every word - first deciding what part of speech it was, then working out the case/number/gender or tense/voice/mood/person etc., and, where more than one possibility existed, making a list of all the potential forms.<br /><br />This kind of method would be ok, if you are a computer, but it has serious flaws. Firstly, from a purely pragmatic point of view, it is far too time consuming. It's not a sensible strategy for an exam context with limited time, even when you are only translating a short extract. And can you imagine (as my uni professor used to say) trying to read all 53 extant speeches of Cicero in this way? It would take forever, and it would be mind-numbingly, soul-destroyingly boring.<br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br />Secondly,&nbsp;and more importantly, it doesn't help you to understand the mechanics of a Latin sentence, or the way in which Roman authors crafted their writings. If you approach translation in that way, I think you will forever be trying to 'fix' the Latin - to put it into some kind of 'proper' (i.e. English) word order. Or to put it another way, it makes Latin into a puzzle to solve, a code to crack, rather than a language to be appreciated. Perhaps a code-cracking approach is appopriate for an exam, where all that matters is your final mark, although even then I think a more well-rounded approach has the potential to be more beneficial. If you're relying on a strictly analytical method, what will you do when an author breaks the rules, as they often do, or when you come across a usage with which you're not familiar? If on the other hand you are able to develop a feel for the Latin language, if you become used to the balance of flexibility and structure in herent in the language, and for the way in which different authors write, even if you can't give an exact grammatical analysis of every word, you will be able to understand the whole and to come up with a more faithful translation.<br /><br />This raises the question of whether students should be taught to translate at all, or just to read and understand,&nbsp;but leaving that&nbsp;aside, what advice should I give to the students in my talk? What trick or strategy do you find most helpful? What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?http://audio-video-disco.blogspot.com/2012/06/translation.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (jm)6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29638226.post-7886167649072875050Tue, 12 Jun 2012 23:27:00 +00002012-06-13T09:27:37.492+10:00CatullusOvidWordsFunOne of my students asked me yesterday if the Romans had a word for <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fun?s=t">fun</a>. I didn't know. I still don't. The <a href="http://www.lexipedia.com/english/fun">concept of fun</a> is a... well, a funny one I suppose. Easy to recognise, but hard to define. Romans played and laughed and enjoyed themselves just like humans throughout history, I assume, but did they have a specific word for fun? I suspect that someone like Cicero would have been a bit scornful of the notion of fun (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtue">virtue</a> is much more important), while for an Epicurean such as Lucretius <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicureanism#Philosophy">pleasure</a> had a much more nuanced meaning than simply fun. No doubt Catullus or Ovid appreciated the concept, but what words did they use to express it? How would you say 'This is fun!' or 'I am having fun!' in Latin?<br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br />Here is a list of some fun related words (thanks to <a href="http://www.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wordes.exe?fun">William Whitakers Words</a>), none of which I'm sure suit the meaning of the English perfectly:<br /><br /><strong>delicia, deliciae:</strong> pleasure/delight/fun (usu. pl.), activity affording enjoyment, luxuries; toys;<br /><br /><strong>ludus, ludi: </strong>game, play, sport, pastime, entertainment, fun; school, elementary school;<br /><br /><strong>delicius, delicii: </strong>pleasure/delight/fun, activity affording enjoyment; curiosities of art;<br /><br /><strong>ludibundus, ludibunda, ludibundum: </strong>having fun; carefree;<br /><br /><strong>derideo, deridere, derisi, derisus: </strong>to<strong> </strong>mock/deride/laugh at/make fun of; be able to laugh, escape, get off scot free;<br /><br /><strong>irrideo, irridere, irrisi, irrisus:</strong> to ridicule, mock, make fun of; laugh at;<br />Any thoughts?http://audio-video-disco.blogspot.com/2012/06/fun.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (jm)6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29638226.post-7200793971931450119Sun, 18 Mar 2012 23:54:00 +00002012-03-20T07:52:21.865+11:00in the newsmultilingualismThe most multi-lingual student in Britain<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/schools/chalk-talk-meet-the-most-multilingual-student-in-the-country-7544625.html">Here</a>'s an article about Britain's most multi-lingual student, who at the age of 20 is fluent in 11 languages.<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Alex, who was brought up in London and went to Latymer School – one of the country's leading fee-paying schools – reckons he had a head-start. "My mother is half Greek and she spoke to me in Greek and a little bit in French when I was young," he says. "My dad had a job in Japan at a university for four years and we went out to visit him."...</blockquote><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">For the record, the 11 languages he speaks fluently are English, Greek, German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Afrikaans, French, Hebrew, Catalan and Italian. He took A-levels in German, Spanish and <strong>Ancient Greek</strong> – and also studied French and <strong>Latin</strong> at GCSE level.</blockquote>&nbsp;That's an impressive list, although it should be noted that four of the languages in which he's fluent are really just modern Latin, which he studied to the GCSE (roughly the equivalent of the old year 10 School Certificate in Australia).<br /><br />And in related news, this article explains <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/the-benefits-of-bilingualism.html?_r=2">why bilinguals are smarter</a>.http://audio-video-disco.blogspot.com/2012/03/most-multi-lingual-student-in-britain.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (jm)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29638226.post-3779679465993513829Thu, 15 Mar 2012 23:45:00 +00002012-03-20T07:53:04.358+11:00CaesarOn this day...(Belated) Ides of MarchTo celebrate missing the Ides of March yesterday, why not read the <a href="http://popclassicsjg.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/top-five-random-references-to-julius.html">Top Five Random References to Julius Caesar</a> over on the <a href="http://popclassicsjg.blogspot.com.au/">Pop Classics</a> blog.<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><em>I've often wondered who is the most famous Roman of them all - Pontius Pilate or Julius Caesar. Pilate has got to be one of the best known to Christians, and millions recite his name every week, if they happen to belong to a denomination that recites the Nicene Creed regularly. But outside Christian culture, Julius Caesar must be the best known Roman of all time. In addition to a month which either he or Augustus had named after himself (July), he's had all sorts of things named after him, from political positions (Kaiser, Tsar) to methods of child delivery, to salads.</em></blockquote><br />http://audio-video-disco.blogspot.com/2012/03/belated-ides-of-march.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (jm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29638226.post-1728530889891045735Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:54:00 +00002012-02-13T07:56:37.763+11:00DictionaryLatin todayphotosRome (city)WordsRomae ningit<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-52JmUUO5LLI/TzMLGaIow2I/AAAAAAAAA-Y/tFHFqbDSalw/s1600/Rome+in+snow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-52JmUUO5LLI/TzMLGaIow2I/AAAAAAAAA-Y/tFHFqbDSalw/s400/Rome+in+snow.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">[<a href="http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/world/when-in-rome-ski-as-the-romans-ski-20120212-1t023.html">more photos</a>]</div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">ningit</b> or <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">ninguit</b>, ebat, nxit, 3, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">v. n</i>. [Gr. </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Symbol;">nifei</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">; cf. nix…], <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">it snows</i>. I Lit. ningit… cum ninxerit caelestium molem mihi… – (</span><span style="font-family: Symbol;">b</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">) in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">pass</i>. form: torum istud spatium, qua pluitur et ninguitur… * <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">II</b>. Transf. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">to shower down, scatter</i>: ningunt rosarum Floribus Lucr. 2, 627.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">*<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">ningor</b>, oris, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">m</i>. [ningo], <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">a fall of snow<o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><a name='more'></a><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">ninguidus</b>, a, um, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">adj</i>. [ninguis], <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">full of snow, snowy</i> (post-class.)… II. Transf., <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">falling like snow</i>: cibus, i.e. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">manna<o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">ninguis</b>, is, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">f</i>. [kindr. with nix], <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">snow</i> (ante- and post-class.): albas descendere ningues, Lucr. 6, 736<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">nivalis</b>, e, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">adj</i>. [nix], <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">of</i> or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">belonging to snow, snowy, snow</i>-. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">I</b>. Lit.: nivalis dies, a snowy day, Liv. 21, 54, 7: nivalia (sc. loca), Plin. 26, 8, 29, § 46: Hamonia, Hor. C.1, 37, 19: venti, Plin. 2, 47, 48, § 126: axis, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the region of snow</i>, Val. Fl. 5, 225: Hebrus nivali compede vinctus, Hor. Ep. 1, 3, 3: undae, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">water filled with snow</i>, Mart 14, 118, 1.: aqua nivalis, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">snow water</i>, Gell. 19, 5, 3:terrae et pruinosae, Amm. 23, 6, 43. – <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">II</b>Transf. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A</b>. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cold</i>: dies, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">a cold, dull day</i>: diclimus nivalem diem, cum altum frigus et triste caelum est, Sen. Q. N. 4, 4, 3; Flor. 2, 6, 12: osculum, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">cold, frigid</i>, Mart. 7, 95, 2 – <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">B</b>. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Snow-like, snowy</i>: equi candor nivali, Verg. A. 3, 538. – Trop.: nivalis Pietas, Prud. Symm. 2, 249.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">nivarius</b>, a, um, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">adj</i>. [id.], <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">of</i> or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">belonging to snow</i>: nivarium colum, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">a</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">strainer filled with snow, through which generous wines were filtered</i>, whereas the commoner sorts were merely passed through a linen cloth, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">filled with snow</i>, Mart. 14, 103, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">in lemm</i>.; Dig. 34, 2, 21: the latter called nivarius saccus, Mart. 14, 104 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">in lemm</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">nivatus</b>, a, um, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">adj</i>. [id.], <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">cooled with snow</i>: potiones, Sen. Q. N. 4, 13, 10: aqua, Petr. 31; Suet. Ner. 27.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">nivesco</b>, ere, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">v. inch. n</i>. [nix], <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">to become snow-white</i>, Anth. Lat. tom. 2, p. 406 Burm.; Tert. Pall. 3 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">med.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">niveus</b>, a, um, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">adj.</i> [id.], <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">of</i> or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">from snow, snowy, snow</i>- (poet) <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">I</b>. Lit: aggeribus niveis informis, Verg. G. 3, 354: aqua, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">cooled with snow</i>, Mart. 12, 17, 6; cf. id. 14, 104 and 117: mons, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">covered with snow</i>, Cat. 64, 240. – <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">II</b>. Transf., <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">snow-white, snowy</i> (mostly poet.): a similitudine sic: corpore niveum candorem, aspect igneum ardorem assequebatur, Auct. Her. 4, 33, 44: lacerti, Verg. A. 8, 387: lac, id E. 2, 20: hanc si capite niveae agnae exorari judicas, Sen. Q. N. 2, 36: Briseis niveo colore, Hor. C. 2, 4, 3: vestis, Ov. M. 10, 432: candidior nivei folio, Galatea, ligustri, id. ib. 13, 789: dens, id. H. 18, 18: qua notam duxit niveus videri, Hor. C. 4, 2, 59: panis, Juv. 5, 70: flumen, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">clear, pellucid</i>, Sen. Hippol. 504: undae, Mart. 7, 32, 11.: tribuni, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">clothed in white togas</i>, Calp. Ecl. 7, 29; so, Quirites, Juv. 10, 45.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">*<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">nivifer</b>, era, erum, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">adj</i>. [nix-fero], <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">snow-bearing, covered with snow</i>: niviferae valles, Salv. G.D. 6, 2.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">*<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">nivit</b>, ere, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">v. impers</i>. [nix], <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">it snows</i>; poet. transf. of a great quantity of missile weapons: sagittis plumbo et saxis grandinat, nivit, Pac. ap. Non. 507, 27<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">nivosus</b>, a, um, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">adj. </i>[nix], <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">full of snow, snowy</i>: hiems gelida ac nivosa, Liv. 5, 13, 1: tantum nivosae grandinis, id. 21, 59, 8: Strymon, Ov. Tr. 5, 3, 22: Scythia, id. H.12, 27: loca praegelida ac nivosa, Col.2, 9, 7: Pliadum nivosum sidus, Stat. S. 1, 3, 95.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">nix</b>, nivis, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">f.</i> [cf. Gr. </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="FR" style="font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: FR;">nifa</span></i><span style="font-family: Calibri;">(<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">acc.</i>), snow; Lat. ningit, ninguit], <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">snow</i>. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">I</span></b><span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;"> Lit.: Anaxagoras nivem nigram dixit esse, Cic. Ac. 2, 23, 72: pars terrarium obriguit nive pruinaque, id N.D. 1, 10, 24: miles nivibus pruinisque obrutus, Liv. 5. 2; Lact. 3, 24, 1: opposuit natura Alpemque nivemque, Juv. 10, 152: duratae solo nives, Hor. C. 3, 24, 39; 4, 12, 4: alta, Verg. G. 1, 310: nives solutae, Ov. Am. 3, 6, 93: horrifera, Val. Fl. 6, 306; Plin. 2, 103, 106, § 234. – <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">II</b>. </span>Transf., <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">white color, whiteness</i>: capitis nives, i.e. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">white hair</i>, Hor. C. 4, 13, 12; Prud. preaf. <span lang="FR" style="mso-ansi-language: FR;">Cath. 25 (dura translation, quint. 8, 6, 17): eboris, App de Mundo, p. 69, 21. – <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">B</b>. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Plur</i>.: nives, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">snows</i>, i.e. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">a cold climate</i>, Prop. 1, 8, 8.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>http://audio-video-disco.blogspot.com/2012/02/romae-ningit.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (jm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29638226.post-3980045253296146968Wed, 18 Jan 2012 23:00:00 +00002012-01-19T10:00:08.091+11:00house of AtreusLatin todaysmhsportLessons from Greek mythology<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-R594BNE11-U/TxdOfG3NM3I/AAAAAAAAA-I/qSVyK0kozT0/s1600/orestes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" nfa="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-R594BNE11-U/TxdOfG3NM3I/AAAAAAAAA-I/qSVyK0kozT0/s320/orestes.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">[Orestes,&nbsp;middle, attacks Clytemnestra, right]</span></em></div><br />I spotted this in the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/sport/the-fitz-files/hewitt-the-paradox--ever-the-fighter-20111230-1pfod.html">sports section</a> of the paper last year, but what with one thing and another didn't get around to posting it. It just goes to show how useful a knowledge of our classical heritage can be in everyday life.<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">In June, in reference to the adultery committed by the English soccer player <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1394474/Ryan-Giggs-accused-8-year-affair-BROTHERS-wife.html">Ryan Giggs</a> with his brother's wife, TFF posed the throwaway question, "Is it worse for a man to sleep with his brother's wife, or his wife's sister? Discuss." Well, I never. I was overwhelmed with responses. Most tended to agree with me that "brother's wife", is worse; some said I would have to ask an AFL player of the ilk of Wayne Carey; although David Scott identified that the worst of all would be when your brother's wife is also your wife's sister.<br /><br />The last word, however, goes to reader Bruce Hyland, who has what I think is an uncomfortably well-thought-out and referenced position on this. "The Greeks," he writes, "held that an offence against a blood relative was far more serious than an offence against a relative who was not blood-kin. Hence, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clytemnestra">Clytemnestra</a>'s murder of her husband, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agamemnon">Agamemnon</a>, was less heinous than <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orestes">Orestes</a>'s revenge killing of Clytemnestra, because Clytemnestra and Agamemnon were not blood relatives, whereas Orestes was Clytemnestra's [and Agamemnon's] son and, thus, the closest blood-kin. It follows that sleeping with one's brother's wife is beyond the pale, whereas sleeping with one's wife's sister may be regarded as a trivial <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/peccadillo">peccadillo</a>."</blockquote>http://audio-video-disco.blogspot.com/2012/01/lessons-from-greek-mythology.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (jm)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29638226.post-4553691748866632799Wed, 19 Oct 2011 23:40:00 +00002011-10-20T10:42:28.079+11:00mike saltersmhstatisticsLatin in the newsLatin's been in the paper a bit this week, firstly with an <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/all-greek-to-them-classics-back-in-vogue-as-schools-embrace-languishing-languages-20111016-1lrfe.html">article on Monday</a> hailing the revival of Classical Languages in NSW schools:<br /><br /><em>In schools, the classics are steadily increasing their enrolment numbers. </em><em>This year, Gosford High School and St Catherine's of Waverley joined the 43 schools teaching classical languages, resulting in 342 enrolments from a typically small number that do languages. </em><em>Chinese background speakers is the most popular language with 963 enrolments and Dutch is the least popular with two...</em><em> </em><em>Classical Greek, classical Hebrew and Latin are considered difficult and scale well, with more than half of students achieving a mark of 90 or more. They are typically taken by high-achieving students and, as the number and standard of selective schools in NSW has grown, so has demand. </em><em>''But the students also see a lot of intrinsic worth,'' said Elizabeth Jones, a member of the Classical Association of NSW and part of a group of teachers campaigning to have classical languages included in the national curriculum. </em><em>''In some ways there is so much emphasis on the here and now that there is interest in learning something that isn't 'modern suburban Sydney' but has a timeless quality. They're reading some of the greatest things ever written,'' she said.</em><br /><br /><br /><em></em><br /><a name='more'></a>Bruce Marshall then had a letter published in response to the article:<br /><br /><em>The same encouraging trend seen in schools in the study of classics is occurring in universities. Undergraduate numbers studying Greek and Latin are steadily rising. Postgraduate studies in these subjects are booming. And, while staff numbers in humanities subjects have suffered steady cuts, positions in classics and ancient history are regularly being replaced. This is all very encouraging to those of us in the profession.</em><br /><br /><em>Bruce Marshall secretary, Australasian Society for Classical Studies, Bundanoon</em><br /><br /><br />and a couple more letters followed in response. One supportive, the other not so much:<br /><br /><em>At the end of a 50-year career as a professional engineer, I enthusiastically support the advocacy of Bruce Marshall (Letters, October 18) and others for continued study of the ancient world in our schools and universities. While pursuing my day job with passion, I picked up some qualifications in Greek, Latin and ancient history. I soon came to appreciate the benefits of engaging with a highly intelligent and well-recorded civilisation, free of today's political and ideological baggage. Can we still learn from those ancients? Very definitely. It is about human striving and how best to live and organise ourselves. Not all wisdom comes in tweets.</em><br /><br /><em>John Court Denistone</em><br /><br /><br /><em>What can students possibly learn from studying the imported classical detritus of a 2500-year-old society that died out after a mere few hundred years? If they need something ancient and inspiring to study, students should take a long hard look at the living cultures of the first people to leave Africa some 70,000 years ago; truly venerable cultures that make so-called ancient Greek look so gen Y, and the only cultures that can speak with the authentic voice of this country on which we live.</em><br /><br /><em>Peter Fyfe Erskineville</em><br /><br /><br />Followed by more letters today (including one from my <a href="http://arslatetarte.blogspot.com/">colleague and friend</a>):<br /><br /><em>Peter Fyfe (Letters, October 19) recommends an indigenous language as a better choice than classical Latin or Greek for those who would seek cultural insights valuable to present-day Australians. It is true that many indigenous languages are just as complex as the classical languages and will take just as many years of hard study to master. It is not true that they are somehow repositories of ancient wisdom now lost to us - the idea of the ''noble savage'' belongs back with Captain Cook. All living cultures are equally venerable and equally modern. What classical languages offer us (and let's not forget Hebrew or Sanskrit or Chinese) are windows into cultures which, like those of indigenous Australians, were radically different from our own in material terms, but from which men and women left detailed records of their thoughts, their doings and their feelings in ways that can resonate with us today, and perhaps even impart a little wisdom. Unfortunately, for indigenous languages, we don't have any comparable record.</em><br /><br /><em>Alex Jones Kirribilli</em><br /><br /><br /><em>I wonder if Peter Fyfe is aware that his brief missive deriding the relevance of the classical languages contains no fewer than 16 words (not counting repetitions) derived from them.</em><br /><br /><em>Michael Salter Greenacre</em>http://audio-video-disco.blogspot.com/2011/10/latin-in-news.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (jm)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29638226.post-6807905732835389087Sun, 09 Oct 2011 10:15:00 +00002011-10-09T21:15:56.238+11:00Rome wasn't built in a dayI don't watch a lot of TV, but I did catch the opening episode of <em><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/tv/guide/abc1/201110/programs/ZX6280A001D2011-10-04T203328.htm">Rome wasn't built in a day</a></em>, a BBC documentary following a group of London builders as they attempt to build a <a href="http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/wroxeter-roman-city/wroxeter-roman-town-house/">Roman-style villa</a> using only materials, tools and techniques, guided by a <a href="http://www.chester.ac.uk/departments/history-and-archaeology/associate-and-honorary-staff/dmevans">mad archaeologist</a> and copies of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitruvius">Vitruvius</a>' architecture manual. You can read a couple of reviews <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/rome-wasnt-built-in-a-day-tuesday-october-4-20110930-1l0xf.html">here</a> and <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/rome-wasnt-built-in-a-day-tuesday-october-4-20110930-1l0xf.html">here</a>. I thought it was pretty good, with&nbsp;some interesting insights into Roman practices. The builders (in the first episode at least) struggle a lot without their modern tools, and I don't blame them really. The Romans didn't have the same level of technology, but they made up for it by having a huge, cheap workforce. The six builders are trying to achieve by themselves something which (I imagine) would have involved dozens of skilled and unskilled slaves. One thing the reviews don't mention is how funny the show is. There are some very funny interactions between the builders and the archaeologist, and keep an eye on the plumber's T-shirts in particular. <br /><br />The series is on the ABC on Tuesday evenings, and you can catch the first episode on <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/iview/#/view/834871">iview</a> for the next week or so.http://audio-video-disco.blogspot.com/2011/10/rome-wasnt-built-in-day.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (jm)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29638226.post-8670514564267513367Sun, 02 Oct 2011 04:35:00 +00002011-10-02T21:04:50.199+11:00boris johnsonComputersLatin todayother blogssmhLatin for tweet?I'm not on twitter myself, and haven't really contemplated what the Latin for <em>to tweet</em> might be. The <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/editorial/summit-faces-some-unpalatable-facts-20110930-1l1e1.html">editorial</a> in yesterday's Sydney Morning Herald suggested <em>frigere,</em> in this short post script:<br /><blockquote>THE 18th-century philosopher Bishop Berkeley thought things existed only if they were perceived. In all modesty we wish to propose a variant of this doctrine: people exist only if they tweet, or <em>esse est</em> <em>frigere</em>, for those who prefer their axioms in questionable Latin. The basis for this is our report that social scientists have plotted the mood of the whole world from Twitter.<br /><br />After examining half a billion tweets and tallying up when people tweet positive and negative words, they conclude that most of us wake up happy, then things go downhill through the work day until knock-off time, when tweeters resume their early bounciness. This astonishing finding is all well and good, but what about people who don't tweet? Might their mood swings be in the opposite direction? Here our axiom springs into action. Either they are the same as the twitterers, in which case they are superfluous, or they are different but undetectable, in which case who cares? ... All together now: <em>frigo ergo sum</em>. I tweet, therefore I am.</blockquote>I was a bit puzzled by this verb, and admit I had to look it up to see what it meant. Here's the definition according to <a href="http://www.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/words.exe?frigo">William Whitaker's Words</a> (I'm on holidays and don't have a real dictionary with me):<br /><br /><em>frigo, frigere, frixi, frictus</em>: to roast, parch, fry<br /><br />I'm not sure how they chose this verb, given that definition. Perhaps there's another meaning not given on-line, or perhaps there's some joke I'm not getting. In either case I would have thought <a href="http://www.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/words.exe?pipio"><em>pipiare</em></a> or <a href="http://www.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/words.exe?titiare"><em>titiare</em></a> (which both describe the sounds birds make) would have been a better choice. Any other suggestions?<br /><br />UPDATE: unsurprisingly, someone else has already given this some thought. <a href="http://rogueclassicism.com/2011/06/01/twitter-in-latin/">Here</a> are the Rogue Classicist's (who is actually on twitter and has much more authority than I on such matters) suggestions. While I was raeding this I was also distracted by <a href="http://rogueclassicism.com/2011/09/26/boris-johnson-on-bc-v-bce-on-the-bbc/">this post</a>, which reminded me of why I love <a href="http://audio-video-disco.blogspot.com/search/label/boris%20johnson">Boris Johnson</a> so much.http://audio-video-disco.blogspot.com/2011/10/latin-for-tweet.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (jm)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29638226.post-2204027050830509826Fri, 16 Sep 2011 10:16:00 +00002011-09-20T13:36:18.298+10:00AeneidBook Xcontinuers 11HSCsample answersMezentius<em>impastus stabula alta leo ceu saepe peragrans</em><br /><em>(suadet enim vesana fames), si forte fugacem</em><br /><em>conspexit capream aut surgentem in cornua cervum,</em><br /><em>gaudet hians immane comasque arrexit et haeret</em><br /><em>visceribus super incumbens; lavit improba taeter</em><br /><em>ora cruor—</em><br /><em>sic ruit in densos alacer Mezentius hostis.</em><br /><em>sternitur infelix Acron et calcibus atram</em><br /><em>tundit humum exspirans infractaque tela cruentat.</em><br /><em>atque idem fugientem haud est dignatus Oroden</em><br /><em>sternere nec iacta caecum dare cuspide vulnus;</em><br /><em>obvius adversoque occurrit seque viro vir</em><br /><em>contulit, haud furto melior sed fortibus armis.</em><br /><em>tum super abiectum posito pede nixus et hasta:</em><br /><em>'pars belli haud temnenda, viri, iacet altus Orodes.'</em><br /><em>conclamant socii laetum paeana secuti;</em><br /><em>ille autem exspirans: 'non me, quicumque es, inulto,</em><br /><em>victor, nec longum laetabere; te quoque fata</em><br /><em>prospectant paria atque eadem mox arva tenebis.'</em><br /><em>ad quem subridens mixta Mezentius ira:</em><br /><em>'nunc morere. ast de me divum pater atque hominum rex</em><br /><em>viderit.' hoc dicens eduxit corpore telum.</em><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><em>(Aeneid X.723-744)</em></div><br /><strong>How does this extract display the heroic qualities of Mezentius? In your answer refer to both the content and the language of the extract, and to Mezentius’ speech and actions.</strong><br /><a name='more'></a><br />Mezentius is presented as the archetypal Homeric hero in Aeneid X. He is of course a mighty warrior and Aeneas’ chief adversary in the absence of Turnus. But his heroism is also seen in his fierce independence, arrogance and scorn for his enemies. Indeed his heroism is just as apparent in his flaws as in his virtues.<br /><br />Mezentius’ great prowess as a warrior is his most obvious heroic trait. Virgil shows us his daring as he eagerly (<em>alacer</em>) rushes in to the thick of the battle, with the choice of the adjective and the use of present tense verbs (<em>ruit, sternitur, tundit</em>; the latter two given extra emphasis through their position at the start of a line) combining to make the action seem more immediate to the reader and thus create a deeper impression of his courage in the face of danger. The chiasmus (<em>densos… hostis</em>) also draws our attention to these words, highlighting the fact that Mezentius chooses to throw himself into the most dangerous (<em>densos</em>) part of the battle, again illustrating his courage. The chiasmus also cleverly reflects Mezentius’ situation, in the middle of the surrounding enemy. Mezentius’ decision to confront Orodes face to face also displays his bravery. The contrast between <em>furto</em> and <em>fortibus armis</em> shows Mezentius’ clearly superior strength and his rejection of sneaky, dishonourable tactics (<em>caecum… vulnus</em>). Virgil’s repetition and juxtaposition of <em>viro vir</em> also highlights the confrontation between the two men, and the unusual monosyllabic line ending gives the line an added impact on the ear of the reader.<br /><br />The simile used in the opening lines of the extract also contributes to Virgil’s depiction of Mezentius as a hero. The simile has a clear Homeric flavour, and, in combination with the other similes describing Mezentius in Book X, clearly shows us the kind of hero Virgil intends him to be – firmly in the mold of Homer’s heroes, such as Achilles or Ajax. In this particular simile Mezentius is compared to a lion driven wild by hunger (another chiasmus – <em>impastus… leo</em>). Virgil’s choice of words such as <em>vesana, gaudet</em> and <em>haeret</em> <em>visceribus</em> effectively bring out the savage violence of the lion and hence Mezentius, displaying the kind of viciousness typical of a Homeric hero. The final image of the simile, that of the lion’s jaws awash with foul blood (<em>lavit… cruor</em>), is particularly gruesome and the juxtapostion of the negative adjectives <em>improba</em> and <em>taeter</em> paints a graphic picture of Mezentius’ savagery in the mind of the reader. The alliteration within the simile, for example of <em>fames… forte fugacem</em> or <em>conspexit capream… cornua cervum</em>, also adds to the effectiveness of these lines. The harsh sounds assist Virgil to describe the scene in a way which strikes the ears in a particularly powerful and memorable way, giving his depiction of the hero Mezentius greater depth and an increased vividness.<br /><br />Mezentius’ arrogance is another important part of his heroic character. We see this especially in the way he treats his slain enemies. Both his actions and his words, for example, show disrespect to Orodes. He puts his foot on the dying man (<em>pede posito</em>), stands over him (<em>super</em>) to display his dominance and cruelly leans on the spear (<em>nixus et hasta</em>) which is still inside the dying man’s body (cf. line 744). His actions show no pity for the man he has wounded, in the same way that Turnus behaved towards the body of Pallas and in clear contrast to Aeneas’ actions towards the slain Lausus. Mezentius’ words also show his scorn. His speech is full of pride in his own strength as he describes Orodes as <em>pars belli haud temnenda</em> and <em>altus Orodes</em>. The sarcastic tone of these lines&nbsp;conveys Mezentius as a proud and boastful man. This can also be seen in his failure to heed Orodes' warning that he too will soon die (<em>te quoque fata prospectant paria</em>). Instead of showing humility before the gods Mezentius flies into a rage (<em>ira</em>), issues the blunt imperative <em>nunc morere</em> (the short clause effectively conveying Mezentius’ scorn again) and proudly challenges Jupiter’s power (<em>divum pater</em>). Such <em>hubris</em> is antithetical to the <em>pietas</em> of Aeneas, and is clearly censured by Virgil in the Aeneid, but it is still an important and typical part of the Homeric model of heroism, seen especially in the interaction between Achilles and the dying Hector, on which Virgil’s scene is clearly modelled.<br /><br />And so Mezentius’ flawed heroism can be clearly seen in this extract. He is clearly a formidable warrior, with strength and bravery and also displays the arrogant pride in his own power, and the scorn for his slain enemies which typifies the Heroes of Homer’s epic poems.<br /><br />Comments and criticisms are welcome!http://audio-video-disco.blogspot.com/2011/09/mezentius.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (jm)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29638226.post-6545930435474143600Wed, 14 Sep 2011 22:15:00 +00002011-09-15T08:15:21.035+10:00column 8pluralsibides?<blockquote>Column 8 has been involved in a furious workplace argument about the plural form of the word <strong>''ibis'' </strong>(the bird that tears garbage bags to shreds with apparent impunity all over the CBD). We favour '<strong>'ibi''</strong> over the clumsy, but allegedly correct <strong>''ibises''</strong>. Thoughts?<br /><div style="text-align: right;">(<a href="http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/column-8/column-8-20110913-1k7qf.html">14/9/2011</a>)</div></blockquote><blockquote><a name='more'></a>''Elegant and attractive though <strong>'ibi' </strong>is, sadly the Latin plural does not apply in this case as it should follow the pattern of third declension nouns, not second declension,'' asserts Greg King, of Springwood (Plural form of the annoying bird, Column 8, yesterday). ''Thus, if you're not content with the English <strong>'ibises'</strong>, it would have to be <strong>'ibes'</strong>, or, possibly, <strong>'ibides'</strong>.'' Beware the ibes of September?<br /><br />It has to be <strong>''ibeese''</strong>, insists Erle Bartlett, of Burra, while Kenrick Riley, of Georgica, tells us that we are wrangling with a non-issue, assuring us that ''the common <strong>ibis</strong> are like sheep - they are both singular and plural''. But Lee Godfrey, of Biggera Waters, Queensland, backs up Column 8, and says simply ''I buy <strong>'ibi</strong>''', as does Alison Axam, who actually has a kind word to say about the creatures: ''In our house it's definitely' <strong>ibi</strong>','' writes Alison. ''They might be feathered hooligans on the ground, but a fly-by of <strong>ibi</strong> is a joy to see.'' It's true, they are a fine sight on the wing - preferably heading far away.<br /><br />''This reminds me of the story of the zookeeper who couldn't decide on the plural of mongoose when ordering livestock,'' recalls Finola Border, of Petersham. ''Mongooses? Mongeese? After much deliberation he wrote 'Please send one mongoose to …', and then finished off with 'PS: better make that two'.''<br /><div style="text-align: right;">(<a href="http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/column-8/column-8-20110914-1k9mx.html">15/9/2011</a>)</div></blockquote>I think I have pointed out before that, as any grammar book will tell you, the plural of <strong>ibis</strong> is <strong><a href="http://www.allverbs.com/cache/verbtables/9/E/Eo.shtml">ibitis</a></strong>.<br /><strong>Related Post</strong><br /><ul><li><a href="http://audio-video-disco.blogspot.com/2006/11/classical-plurales.html">Classical Plurales</a></li></ul>http://audio-video-disco.blogspot.com/2011/09/ibides.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (jm)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29638226.post-7068993339708508632Wed, 24 Aug 2011 23:25:00 +00002011-08-25T09:25:50.286+10:00DelphiLatin todaypodcastsYou can't dream in Latin...Here are a couple of podcasts that have caught my attention over the last week from ABC Radio, one from 702 Sydney, the other from Radio National. The first is a brief look at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythia">Oracle of Delphi</a>, the second a longer discussion of Latin's influence on the western world.<br /><ul><li><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2011/08/24/3300407.htm">The ancient mysteries of the Delphic Oracle</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/rn/encounter/stories/2011/3287681.htm">You can't dream in Latin</a></li>
</ul>http://audio-video-disco.blogspot.com/2011/08/you-cant-dream-in-latin.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (jm)3